


Upon Reflection

by HungryLibrary



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, First posted to Tumblr, Fluff, about their partnership, and why ruby smiled when she bumped into the scary girl in the forest, ruby's a bit embarrassed to share them, weiss wants answers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 05:22:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2839541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HungryLibrary/pseuds/HungryLibrary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time they held hands, Ruby would always insist, really did count.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Upon Reflection

The first time they held hands, Ruby would always insist, really did count.

Weiss hadn’t even been aiming for the other girl’s hand in particular. Fire in the trees and Beowolves panicking on every side, Weiss had merely grabbed the first part of Ruby she could and ran.

So she always scoffed when Ruby said that it had _meant_ something.

Rolled her eyes, rolled over in bed, and spent the next half hour frowning at her empty fingers.

She was used to them being empty. Used to it, because her family was not like Ruby and Yang’s, they were not very affectionate at the best of times and times had been less that good for as long as Weiss could remember.

When had she last held someone’s hand…? The memory, if it even exists, escapes her.

But she had reached out as if it was the most natural thing.

Again, later, with the Deathstalker bearing down and everyone else frozen or slow- it had been instinct to move, to be there just in time.

Not a moment to spare on lessons learned or planning ahead.

It had been all her.

And maybe that’s what Ruby meant.

She thinks about this in the morning when Ruby catches her staring, when silver eyes don’t flinch at her frown but look back questioningly.

“Weiss? Something bothering you?”

Thoughts crystalize at the query and Weiss hears the word tumble out.

“Why did you smile that day in the forest?” Ruby’s brows crinkle in confusion, prompting Weiss to impatiently clarify.

“When you almost ran me over, when we became partners- You looked up and you _smiled_ at me. Why?”

At that point Weiss had not dragged the dolt to safety or saved her.

She had disliked Ruby. Spent their every meeting so far in a bad mood and with her voice raised, shot down her offer of friendship, generally left the other girl feeling worse than before.

There was no reason for Ruby to be happy at the prospect of spending four years by Weiss Schnee’s side.

And yet she had been.

It makes no sense. Weiss _hates_ things that don’t make sense.

“If I had known you would do that, look up and deliberately meet my eye-” She can’t stop now.

“-I would have walked off before you had the chance!”

Ruby fails to look surprised at this admission, though she does cringe a little to hear it. 

“We weren’t friends, we were practically enemies, so why…“

Weiss’s voice slowly peters out.

Ruby’s face is edging towards a shade of red and those silver eyes are on the floor now, too embarrassed to hold Weiss’s gaze.

“It’s, kind of a stupid reason.” She reaches up to fiddle nervously with the collar of her combat uniform. “Well not stupid but… Yang probably wouldn’t have put as much weight on it as I did. Neither would’ve you or Blake.”

She’s stalling and it’s almost adorable.

She’s embarrassed, worried about Weiss will think- and that only makes a fist tighten in Weiss’s chest because she doesn’t understand _how_ Ruby came to care about her opinion in the first place.

And until she does, she will keep on feeling like a fraud.

“Please just spit it out.”

Ruby looks up, sees something in her partner’s tense form, and gives in with a sigh.

One hand pops open the collar of her shirt.

What-

“What are you doing?”

Thunder booms in Weiss’s ears as she takes a step back. Heat rushes to her cheeks, they’re late for breakfast and alone in the dorm and that’s what makes it different form every other time she’s seen Ruby change-

But Ruby is busy extracting something from her shirt’s inner pocket and doesn’t see her partner’s uncharacteristic blush.

“This is why.” She mumbles with her eyes still glued to the floorboards.

“This is why I thought being paired with you could be a good thing. Can you try not to laugh?”

There’s a faint crackle of paper as she holds the object out.

Weiss blinks.

The ink is a bit faded and near-constant handling has worn off the pamphlet’s original gloss, but the title ‘Dust for Dummies’ beams clearly back at the heiress.

All previous nerves vanish before a wave of pure bafflement.

“This is your reason.” She can see Ruby droop at the tone of her voice but honestly has no idea how to sound any less bewildered.

“I gave you a lecture and made insinuations about your intelligence… and _that_ convinced you we could be good as a pair?”

“What- No!”

A rare spark of indignation fares up in Ruby’s face.

“No, Weiss, don’t you get it?”

A glower from Weiss makes Ruby hurry on.

“It was because you gave me the leaflet thingy on Dust safety-” She waves it pointedly between them. “Even after I tripped over your stuff and almost blew us up, you still wanted to make sure that ‘dolt’ from the courtyard didn’t get herself killed by accident!”

….

Ruby was right the first time she said it.

It is a stupid reason.

“My family _mines_ that Dust!” Weiss claps a hand to her forehead in exasperation.

“I could just as easily been trying to avoid a lawsuit-“

“ _The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product._ ”

Weiss feels her jaw drop as Ruby rattles it off with triumphant ease.

“You _knew_ I could blast my head off with Dust and your family would barely hear a peep about it! When you gave me this, hunted me down in that packed main hall, the only one you were worried for was me- a stranger you thought was annoying and useless.”

Ruby grins as she pauses for breath.

She grins and doesn’t seem to notice as Weiss slowly sinks onto the edge of her bed, blue eyes wide, numb and listening.

“I was a nuisance but you still came looking. Because you came here to protect people, even from themselves- Because it’s not that you’ve gotten nicer since then. You’ve _always_ been a great person, Weiss, lately you j-just-”

A stutter.

Now Ruby takes note of Weiss, goes from energized to uncertain in an instant.

“…You’ve just, gotten better at showing it. I think?”

Elbows and arms draw in.

Fingers tap together, familiar and shy, as Ruby sinks behind the lopsided curtain of her bangs and waits, nervously, for Weiss to scoff.

Only the heiress can’t.

She can’t because she wants it to be true.

Is it really she does not know- had she become so good at masks by that time that she could hide her own motivations from herself she can’t be sure-

But looking at Ruby, listening to her partner, she gets a glimpse of a she girl hasn’t seen in the mirror for years.

She likes this new reflection better than the one she’s grown used to.

And it’s all right here, in these anxious silver eyes.

“I see.”

She swallows past a lump in her throat, looks away to some random part of the room, works hard to control her breathing past the ache in her chest.

“Really, only an idiot like you would take a simple interaction and blow it so out of proportion.”

Her voice is so calm that Weiss feels a flash of worry, Ruby might take the ‘idiot’ part seriously-

Bedsprings squeak as Ruby settles next to her.

Paper rustles, the pamphlet is set aside. Pulse rises in a sharp jolt when Ruby’s hand enters the corner of Weiss’s vision, palm up, steady and waiting.

This time there is no danger, no reason to rush in without thinking.

Weiss does anyway.

She takes her partner’s hand and can feel Ruby’s exhilarated smile without needing to look around.

It’s the mirror image of the smaller one that has found its way on onto Weiss’s lips. It’s the only mirror Weiss ever wants to see herself in, from now on.

It’s just another tiny tell that she’s knows Ruby, if no one else, will always pick up on.

The first time they held hands might have meant something or it might have not- But the second time _definitely_ does.

It means a very great deal to both of them.


End file.
